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Her heart or her people. Only she can decide.
Hated, cursed, outcasted. It was Eleena Asterin's life ever since she was blamed to have betrayed her village. So when she is offered a task to earn back her honour and prid...
Warning: This chapter may contain some blood and gore as well as torture.
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Present time
The village's cobblestone streets had become ghastly rivers of gore.
It had been thirty minutes, thirty torturous minutes of the immense pain they had brought down on me. I crouched in my pool of blood, my expressionless face reflecting off the surface. Staring back at me was not the same Eleena I was before. Her eyes are a dull grey, unlike the intimidating smokey grey I used to have. Her cheeks are sunken, lips cracked and silky ebony hair now matted and bloody. I had become her, the Eleena in the reflection. The Eleena that was broken beyond repair.
The sickening crack of the whip against bone was enough to pull me out of my thoughts, the sound ringing in my ears.
I winced.
I bit my tongue to keep myself from screaming out loud. Trails of saltwater flowed down my eyes, the briny tang of tears coating my mouth. The wheezing of what must be my clogged nostrils became louder as the burn intensified on my back. What had I ever done wrong to deserve this? Who knows what pain and suffering the village Elders had in store for me.
Blood continued to flow down endlessly from my back, gushing from the newly reopened wounds of the past. I braced my hands on the muddy ground, anticipating the next strike. The whip cracked as I reined in my breathing, now fast and short. I won't give in. No, I had to keep my wits together, to stay strong for my family and myself.
The crowd of villagers jeered and laughed, their eyes burning holes into my body. I could see them exchanging coins, betting on how long it will take for me to release my first scream. The village Elders themselves were here. Dimitri, Japeth, and Gaius, the trio of men who had brought down this fate on me. Their eyes glinted with power and satisfaction as they observed, cruel smirks dancing on their lips. Along with them stood my family, arms bound by iron chains, forced to watch their sister's or daughter's unproven punishment. Alistair, the eldest brother, stood stone-faced and cold, unseeing and unblinking. My father hung his head in shame and embarrassment, not bothered to look at his daughter. Theodore, by far the most compassionate one of the family, watched me, his eyes welling with tears. I locked gazes with him, restraining myself from running up to him.
"Everything is going to be alright. I promise," he mouthed.
I cracked a small smile at that. Both of us know by heart that that was an absolute lie. I had been mutilated for at least a year now. Every month I would be brought to the town square to be whipped and beaten, entertaining thousands of villagers, including my family. Each time doesn't get easier. A shudder skittered down my spine at the thought.
"You know it's not true," I mouthed back.
He smiled sadly in understanding.
The pain had become unbearable now. I reached my shivering fingers towards my back, gently brushing them across torn skin and raw flesh. I gasped out and fell forwards, the heavy metal chains cuffed around my wrists and ankles clacking noisily on the ground. It had hurt like hell. Amazing how such a simple contact can bring forth so much agony. Bile stung in my throat.
